Pictures: UK Parliament Security Alert as ‘Intruder’ Tasered

Getty Images11 Dec 2018

An extraordinary week in the United Kingdom Parliament took a dramatic turn Tuesday morning, with reports claiming the Palace was placed under security alert as an intruder attempted to make his way past the site’s gates.

Witnesses who took to the Twitter micro-blogging platform reported seeing police rushing to the main Carriage Gate entrance, scene of the 2017 Westminster terror attack where unarmed Police Constable Keith Palmer was stabbed to death by Islamist extremist Khalid Masood.

A scream was heard, and a young male was tasered before being arrested and led away by police officers. Among the four officers immediately on the scene were two armed men from the protection squad patrolling the palace and two ordinary constables, one carrying a baton.

A man is detained by armed police inside the Parliamentary Estate after a security incident at the Houses of Parliament in central London on December 11, 2018. / TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images

Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London policing, released a statement confirming the basic facts of the event without giving any further detail.

They said: “A man was detained and arrested by Carriage Gates inside the Palace of Westminster on suspicion of trespassing at a protected site, at around 11.55hrs on Tuesday, 11 December.

“A Taser was deployed. Enquiries into the circumstances continue.”

While the Palace of Westminster — which is home to both houses of the UK Parliament — has been the target of severalterror attacks in the past and is the scene of an ongoing anti-Brexit demonstration, there has been no suggestion the arrested intruder Tuesday is related to either of those ongoing security concerns.

A man is detained by armed police inside the Parliamentary Estate after a security incident at the Houses of Parliament in central London on December 11, 2018. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP / Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 11: A man is detained by Police after being tasered by officers as he broke into the grounds of Parliament in Westminster on December 11, 2018 in London, England / Chris Furlong/Getty Images

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 11: A man is detained by Police after being tasered by officers as he broke into the grounds of Parliament in Westminster on December 11, 2018 in London, England. / (Photo by Chris Furlong/Getty Images